According to industry sources and a number of investment banks’ prediction, the first partner of iPhone 4S that Apple has just announced plans to launch in China will be China Unicom, followed by China Telecom. It is expected that China Telecom will launch the CDMA version of the iPhone 4S later than the China Unicom. The rumors that China Telecom will sell the iPhone 5 in the October evaporate naturally.
Previously, Apple has announced in its conference that iPhone 4S will be officially listed on October 14 first in the United States, Britain, France, Germany, Australia, Canada and Japan. And on October 28, iPhone 4S will be listed in another 22 countries and regions. By the end of the year it will be listed in 70 other countries and regions. As can be seen, the Chinese mainland and Hong Kong should be listed among the 70 other countries and regions.
Earlier, China Unicom’s negotiating team and Apple have reached an agreement to introduce the next version of the iPhone, meaning that China Unicom’s introduction of iPhone 4S is without suspense.China Mobile’s Chairman Wang has also admitted that there isnot results of the negotiations with Apple on the introduction of the iPhone, which means that China Mobile is hopeless to bring into the iPhone 4S.
The iPhone 4S has a CDMA version. When listed in the U.S., it sold by AT & T, Verizon Wireless and Sprint Nextel three operators. And Verizon Wireless is one CDMA operator. Therefore, it is generally agreed that China Telecom will introduce iPhone 4S is no suspense. However, whether China Telecom and China Unicom will introduceiPhone 4S at present have divergent views.
Given the iPhone 4S supports both GSM and CDMA, and the introduction of new operators has become Apple’s business strategy trends, we believe that China Telecom is expected to get the license of iPhone 4S sales in China, becoming the second Chinese carrier after China Unicom. If China Telecom gets its right to sell be iPhone 4S in the mainland, there will be an important help to their business. The introduction time depends on its readiness.
It is reported that China Telecom needs to introduce the iPhone and prepare in aspects of marketing system, IT support systems, and service after sales and so on. In the previous September, China Telecom’s subsidiary has received notification to be ready for the sales of iPhone 5. This is apparently not true because the iPhone 5 is not yet available.